The White House phone line is still down. Here are all the other ways you can make Trump hear you.
You’ve done everything you can to tell your elected representatives how you feel. You’ve called their offices, written them letters, left them comments, sent them pizzas. You’ve even been to the protests.
But you can’t get through to the White House telephone line. That’s because it’s shut—and has been since the last weeks of the Obama administration.
This is the message I got when I called:
Thank you for calling the White House comment line. The comment line is currently closed, but your comment is important to the president, and we urge you to send us a comment online at www.whitehouse.gov/contact or send a message through Facebook Messenger. For government information by topic, visit www.usa.gov or call 1-800-FED-INFO. Thank you for calling, we look forward to hearing from you soon. Goodbye.
So what do you do if you can’t call the president? Allow me to present these helpful tips.
Send an email
According to the WhiteHouse.gov contact page, emailing is the fastest way to get a message to the president. The website has a contact form that asks for your name, address, phone number, email address, and comment. It accepts four types of messages: reflections for the president, reflections for the vice president, reflections for the first lady, and help with a federal agency.
Previous administrations–including 43rd president George W. Bush’s White House–also accepted emailed comments sent directly to [email protected].
Write a letter!
It’s unclear if Trump is following Obama’s tradition of reading ten letters a day, but it doesn’t hurt to try.
The White House gives pretty specific instructions on how to write and send your letter. They ask that you type it on a 8 1/2 by 11 inch sheet of paper. If you handwrite the letter, the White House asks that you do so in pen–and neatly. Be sure to include a return address and an email address if you have one.
Address the letter to: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500.
Send a Facebook message—if you can
When you call the White House Comment line (remember, that’s 202-456-1414, then press 1), a pre-recorded message suggests that you should try contacting the president through Facebook Messenger. But…that currently seems impossible, as there is no “Message” option on either Trump’s official Facebook page or the official White House Facebook page like Obama’s White House page used to have.
The Trump White House page does say that “Comments posted on and messages received through White House pages are subject to the Presidential Records Act and may be archived,” though–so maybe leaving a comment wouldn’t hurt?
Tweet Trump!
A word of caution before proceeding: any tweets to @POTUS, @WhiteHouse, and some other White House officials, are archived under the White House privacy policy. Also, this is not a White House suggested method of contacting the president that you elected, so you might not get a response. And you know how Trump is on Twitter. Do you really want to engage with that?
That all being said, checking Twitter is one of the most essential parts of Trump’s daily routine, so who knows!
You can’t slide into Trump’s personal DMs (and, honestly, why would you want to), but you can mention him in a tweet. There’s no guarantee he’ll read it given the depth of his mentions–and he could block you–but there’s always a chance.
Get down to business
During the nomination process last year, the digital team behind Bernie Sanders’ campaign teamed up with the Creative Majority PAC to launch an online tool called White House Inc. Its original purpose was to push then-candidate Trump to divest from his businesses around the world. Users can input their phone number on the site, then be connected to one of the businesses or properties using the Trump name and logo, like a hotel or a golf course. So far, the service has connected over 10,000 calls.
On the website, the creators encourage users to tell whoever answers the phone “how you feel about Trump’s wall, his threat to revoke citizenship for flag burning, or whatever issues are on your mind.”
Of course, the person answering the phone at the Benjamin Bar & Lounge in Trump’s DC hotel probably doesn’t have a direct line to the president. Still, pressuring businesses to drop the Trump brand has riled up the president before–maybe you and your concerns can get some attention, too.
Go to the White House and tell them how you feel in person
Even though you can’t quite take a tour just yet, bringing your thoughts and your signs to the White House is one of the most visible ways to get your opinion some attention.